Classifications

• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04W—WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
  • H04W4/00—Services specially adapted for wireless communication networks; Facilities therefor
  • H04W4/02—Services making use of location information
  • H04W4/029—Location-based management or tracking services
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04W—WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
  • H04W4/00—Services specially adapted for wireless communication networks; Facilities therefor
  • H04W4/02—Services making use of location information
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
  • G06F—ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING
  • G06F16/00—Information retrieval; Database structures therefor; File system structures therefor
  • G06F16/90—Details of database functions independent of the retrieved data types
  • G06F16/95—Retrieval from the web
  • G06F16/953—Querying, e.g. by the use of web search engines
  • G06F16/9537—Spatial or temporal dependent retrieval, e.g. spatiotemporal queries
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
  • G06Q—INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
  • G06Q30/00—Commerce
  • G06Q30/02—Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
  • G06Q30/0241—Advertisements
  • G06Q30/0251—Targeted advertisements
  • G06Q30/0261—Targeted advertisements based on user location
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04W—WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
  • H04W4/00—Services specially adapted for wireless communication networks; Facilities therefor
  • H04W4/02—Services making use of location information
  • H04W4/023—Services making use of location information using mutual or relative location information between multiple location based services [LBS] targets or of distance thresholds
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04W—WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
  • H04W4/00—Services specially adapted for wireless communication networks; Facilities therefor
  • H04W4/02—Services making use of location information
  • H04W4/025—Services making use of location information using location based information parameters

Definitions

• the present disclosure relates to content presentation.
• Content providers provide content in different forms in order to attract consumers. Such content is designed to be used in whole or part by a user, for example, a particular consumer. Additionally, such content can be provided in electronic form. For example, such content can be provided on a web page, together with search results, or within a mobile application.
• one aspect of the subject matter described in this specification can be embodied in methods for providing third party content at a device.
• the method includes the actions of receiving, at a first time, a device identifier in association with a first network identifier, the first network identifier corresponding to a first network to which the device is connected, processing the first network identifier to determine a first location, associating the device identifier with the first location and the first time, receiving a content request from the device, the device being connected to a network that is not the first network, determining that the device has been connected to the first network within a defined chronological proximity of receiving the content request, based on a determination that the device has been connected to the first network within the defined chronological proximity of receiving the content request, selecting one or more content items based on at least the first location, and providing the one or more content items to the device.
• FIG. 1 is a diagram of an example content presentation system.
• FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an example system for providing third party content.
• FIG. 3 is a flow chart of an example process for providing third party content.
• FIG. 4A depicts an exemplary scenario whereby a user device is connected to a network such as a wifi access point.
• FIG. 4B depicts an exemplary scenario whereby a user device is connected to a network such as a wifi access point.
• FIG. 4C depicts an exemplary scenario whereby a user device a network such as a cellular network.
• FIG. 5 depicts providing a content item to a user device based on a location of a network to which the user device was previously connected.
• FIG. 6 shows an example of a computing device and a mobile computing device that can be used in connection with computer-implemented methods and systems described in the present specification.
• determining the location of a particular device it can be appreciated that while such a location can be determined to a certain degree of accuracy (e.g., zip code level) when a device is connected to a network such as a wifi network (based on the IP address of the wifi network, such as in a manner known to those of ordinary skill in the art), in other scenarios, such as when the device is connected to a cellular network, such a degree of location accuracy cannot be achieved based on the IP address of the cellular network. Accordingly, described herein in various implementations are various methods that enable location determination of various devices, and the providing of location-specific content to such devices, even in scenarios where such devices are connected to networks with respect to which a current location of the device cannot be accurately determined.
• a certain degree of accuracy e.g., zip code level
• FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example content presentation system 100.
• one or more third party content providers such as advertisers, using advertiser devices 102, can directly, or indirectly, enter, maintain, and log third party content information such as ad information in a content management system such as advertising management system 104.
• a content management system such as advertising management system 104.
• the ads can be in the form of graphical ads, such as banner ads, text-only ads, image ads, audio ads, video ads, media ads, interactive ads, ads combining one or more of any of such components, etc.
• the ads can also include embedded information, such as links, meta-information, and/or machine executable instructions.
• One or more first party content providers such as publishers, using publisher devices 106, can submit requests for third party content items such as ads to the system 104.
• the system 104 responds by sending third party content items to the requesting publisher device 106 for placement on, or association with, one or more of the publisher's content items (e.g., web properties such as web pages).
• third party content items such as ads can be provided in a substantially similar manner in television and radio content slots (such as advertising slots), and/or print media space.
• Other entities such as users, using user devices 108, and third party content providers such as the advertisers, using advertiser devices 102, can provide usage information to the system 104, such as, for example, whether or not a conversion (e.g., a purchase or other interaction including, for example, a request for driving directions to a location associated with a third party content item such as an ad, navigating to the location associated with a third party content item such as the ad, or walking to the location associated with a third party content item such as the ad) or a click-through related to a third party content item such as an ad (e.g., a user has selected a third patty content item such as an ad) has occurred.
• a conversion e.g., a purchase or other interaction including, for example, a request for driving directions to a location associated with a third party content item such as an ad, navigating to the location associated with a third party content item such as the ad, or walking to the location
• This usage information can include measured or observed user behavior related to third party content items such as ads that have been served, in some cases, a user may enable and/or disable the recording or observation of such usage information.
• identifiers associated with each user may be anonymized so that the identity of each user is not provided to a third party content provider such as the advertiser.
• the system 104 can perform financial transactions, for example, crediting first party content providers such as the publishers 106 and charging third party content providers such as the advertisers 102 based on the usage information.
• One example publisher device 106 is a general content server that receives requests for first party content (e.g., articles, discussion threads, music, video, graphics, search results, web page listings, information feeds, etc.), and retrieves the requested first party content in response to the request.
• the content server can submit a request for third party content such as ads to a content server such as an advertisement server in the system 104.
• the third party content item request can include a number of third party content items such as ads desired.
• the third party content item request can also include content request information.
• This information can include the content itself (e.g., page, video broadcast, radio show, or other type of content), a category corresponding to the content or the content request (e.g., arts, business, computers, arts-movies, arts-music, etc.), part or all of the content request, content age, content type (e.g., text, graphics, video, audio, mixed media, etc.), geo-location information, etc.
• the content server or a client browser can combine the requested first party content with one or more of the third party content items such as ads provided by the system 104.
• the combined first party content and third party content items such as ads can be sent/rendered to the user devices 108 that requested the content for presentation in a viewer (e.g., a browser or other content display system).
• the content server can transmit information about the third party content items such as ads back to the content server, including information describing how, when, and/or where the third party content items such as ads are to be rendered (e.g., in HTML or JavaScriptTM).
• a search service can receive queries for search results.
• the search service can retrieve relevant search results from an index of documents (e.g., from an index of web pages).
• Search results can include, for example, lists of web page titles, snippets of text extracted from those web pages, and hypertext links to those web pages, and can be grouped into a predetermined number of (e.g., ten) search results.
• the search service can submit a request for third party content items such as ads to the system 104.
• the request can include a number of third party content items desired.
• the request for third party content items can also include the query (as entered or parsed), information based on the query (such as geo-location information, whether the query came from an affiliate and an identifier of such an affiliate), and/or information associated with, or based on, the search results.
• Such information can include, for example, identifiers related to the search results (e.g., document identifiers or "docIDs"), scores related to the search results (e.g., information retrieval ("IR") scores), snippets of text extracted from identified documents (e.g., web pages), full text of identified documents, feature vectors of identified documents, etc.
• IR scores can be computed from, for example, dot products of feature vectors corresponding to a query and a document, page rank scores, and/or combinations of IR scores and page rank scores, etc.
• the content management system 104 includes an auction process to select third party content items such as ads from the third party content providers such as advertisers.
• third party content providers such as the advertisers can be permitted to select, or bid, an amount they are willing to pay for each presentation of or interaction with (e.g., click of) a third party content item, e.g., a cost-per-click amount a third party content provider pays when, for example, a user clicks on a third party content item.
• the cost-per-click can include a maximum cost-per-click, e.g., the maximum amount the third party content provider is willing to pay for each click of an third party content item based on a keyword, e.g., a word or words in a query.
• third party content items can be selected and ranked for presentation.
• the search service can combine the search results with one or more of the third party content items provided by the system 104. This combined information can then be forwarded to the user devices 108 that requested the content.
• the search results can be maintained as distinct from the third party content items, so as not to confuse the user between paid third party content items and presumably neutral search results.
• one or more publisher devices 106 can submit requests for third party content items such as ads to a content management system such as advertising management system 104.
• the system 104 responds by sending third party content items to the publisher device 106 for placement on one or more of the publisher's web properties (e.g., websites and other network-distributed content) that are relevant to the web property. For example, if a publisher device 106 publishes a sports-related web site, the advertising management system can provide sports-related ads to the publisher device 106.
• the requests can instead be executed by devices associated with the user 108, e.g., by the execution of a particular script when the publisher's web page is loading on a client device.
• an ad push model is used to provide third party content items such as ads from third party content providers such as advertisers. In an ad push model, ads can be pushed to idle screens (e.g., of a mobile devices or particular applications) based on particular criteria (e.g., the user's location).
• the referenced publisher can be a mobile application developer.
• a mobile application is an application specifically designed for operation on a mobile device (e.g., a smart phone).
• the mobile application can also include ads positioned within the content of the mobile application. Similar to publishers, the ads can be received from the system 104 for placement in the mobile application when accessed by a user device (e.g., when a particular page of a mobile application is loaded on the mobile device).
• the users may be provided with an opportunity to control the manner such information is collected with respect to programs or features that may collect personal information (e.g., information about a user's preferences or a user's current location). Users may also be informed of the accompanying limitations on the functionality of a service that may result from limiting access to such personal information.
• certain data may be anonymized in one or more ways before it is stored or used, so that personally identifiable information is removed.
• FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an example system 200 for providing third party content.
• a third party content provider such as advertiser, using advertiser devices 102A - 102N (referred to collectively as advertiser devices 102) can submit one or more third party content items such as ads 21 OA - 210N (also known as “creatives") (referred to collectively as ads 210) to an ad system 204, and such ads 210 are stored in a third party content repository such as an ad repository 202.
• Each ad (e.g., ad 21 OA) includes one or more words, phrases, web links, and/or any other such element and/or component (e.g., images, video, audio, etc.) that are provided to one or more user devices 108 (e.g., banner ads, text-only ads, image ads, audio ads, video ads, etc.).
• one or more keywords (not shown) are associated with one or more creatives in order to enable the identification and selection of pertinent ads for display to a user based on one or more search queries received from the user.
• ads 210 are described herein as referring to individual ads, in certain implementations ads 210 can refer to groups of ads, such as ad groups, campaigns, and/or categories.
• each of the third party content items can be associated with a particular location, such as location 270A and location 270N (referred to collectively as locations 270).
• Locations 270 can correspond to one or more geographic areas or regions (e.g., zip codes, cities, states, countries, etc.) to which an associated ad 210 is directed. That is, it can be appreciated that it can be advantageous for an advertiser to focus a particular advertisement (such as an advertisement for a location-specific product or service) towards users located in a particular geographic location. Accordingly, a particular ad 210 can be configured to be presented only to those users that can be determined to be present in and/or associated with the location 270 associated with the ad.
• Ad system 204 can also include an ad presentation manager 260.
• the ad presentation manager 260 can identify ads in the ad repository 202 to present at a user device 108, for example based on various criteria such as keywords in a search query, web page content, context, location, ad financials (e.g., cost per impression).
• ad presentation manager 260 can identify one or more ads 210 associated with one or more keywords that are similar and/or identical to the search query provided by the user, and such creatives can be provided to the user in any number of ad formats.
• the ad system 204 can interact with a search system, for example presenting ads alongside search results.
• the ad system 204 can interact with content publishers, for example, providing ads to publishers or users for presentation along with web content, e-mail, or other content.
• Ad system 204 can also include one or more ad logs 212.
• ad log 212 can maintain ad display histories, which maintains a record of the various instances of the display of respective ads to respective users.
• ad log 212 can maintain a record of one or more ad performance metrics 220 that reflect the performance or success of a particular third party content item such as an ad.
• ad log 212 can maintain a record of the 'click through rate' (CTR), reflecting the percentage of users presented with an ad that click on or otherwise select the presented content, though it should be understood that any number of other performance metrics can be similarly tracked (e.g., conversion rate), as is known to those of ordinary skill in the art.
• CTR 'click through rate
• Ad system 204 can also include an identifier repository 230 that stores one or more identifiers, such as identifier 220A (referred to collectively as identifiers 220).
• identifiers 220 can reflect one or more user IDs and/or device IDs, such as those corresponding to a particular user or device.
• identifiers can be associated with and/or otherwise linked to one (or more) locations 270, such as zip codes, geographical coordinates, cities, states, etc., as described herein. Additionally, each respective location can be associated with a particular time 280, such as a timeframe.
• a particular identifier 220 can be associated with several locations 270, each of which corresponds to a different time 280 during which the identifier is associated with the corresponding location, as described in greater detail herein. It should be noted that in situations where personal or identifying information is collected, users may be provided with the ability to control whether such information is collected, the extent to which such information is collected, and/or the extent to which a user can be identified based on it. For example, a user can select an option whereby any personal or identifying information is immediately aggregated with that of other users such that such information cannot subsequently be associated with or otherwise identify the individual user. Additionally, ad system 204 can include ad selection engine 206.
• the ad selection engine 206 can select one or more third party content items, such as ads 210, such as based on a determination that a user device has been connected to the a particular network within a defined chronological proximity of receiving a content request, as described in detail herein. It should also be understood that in some implementations ad configuration engine 206 can include one or more processors configured by code to implement the functionality of the ad configuration engine that is being described.
• FIG. 3 is a flowchart of an example method 300 for providing third party content.
• the method 300 can be performed by a processor executing instructions in a computer-readable storage medium.
• the method 300 can be performed by the ad system 204 of FIG. 2.
• a device identifier is received at a first time (305).
• a device identifier is received in association with a first network identifier.
• a first network identifier corresponds to a first network to which the device is connected.
• the referenced device identifier can include a hashed device identifier.
• the referenced first time includes a first timeframe (i.e., a timeframe during which the device was connected to the first network).
• the first network can include a wireless (802.1 1) (“wifi”) network, as is known to those of ordinary skill in the art.
• FIG. 4 A depicts an exemplary scenario whereby a user device 108, such as a smartphone, is connected to a first network 41 OA, such as a wifi access point.
• user device 108 can have a device ID ('ABC123,' as shown in FIG. 4A) which can correspond, for example, to a user ID and/or a device ID (such as a MAC address).
• a network ID such as an IP address (' 12.345.67.89,' as shown in FIG. 4A)
• IP address ' 12.345.67.89,' as shown in FIG. 4A
• a time such as a specific time ('07:30 on 01/01/2012,' as shown in FIG. 4A) or a timeframe (e.g., a span of time, such as 18:00 - 08:00 or 6:00pm - 8:00am) can be associated with the device identifier and the network identifier, reflecting the time/timeframe during which the device was connected to the network.
• a time such as a specific time ('07:30 on 01/01/2012,' as shown in FIG. 4A) or a timeframe (e.g., a span of time, such as 18:00 - 08:00 or 6:00pm - 8:00am) can be associated with the device identifier and the network identifier, reflecting the time/timeframe during which the device was connected to the network.
• the first network identifier is processed (310).
• a first location can be determined.
• a first location can include/reflect a zip code, such as a zip code associated with the first network.
• the network ID of network 410A (' 12.345.67.89') can be processed to determine a location, such as a zip code (e.g., zip code ⁇ 000 ⁇ ) associated with network 41 OA, such as in a manner known to those of ordinary skill in the art.
• a user location can be determined using other methods/techniques, such as based on the GPS coordinates of the device.
• the device identifier is associated with the first location and the first time (315).
• the device identifier of device 108 ('ABC 123') can be associated with a first location (zip code ' 10001,' as determined at 310) and a time ('07:30 on 01/01/2012' and/or 18:00 - 08:00), such as in the manner shown in FIG. 2.
• the device identifier can be associated with a particular location (corresponding to the location of the network 41 OA to which the device was connected) and a particular time (corresponding to the time/timeframe during which the device was connected network 41 OA, and thus can be determined to be located at the first location, e.g., zip code 10001).
• a device identifier is received at a second time (320).
• such a device identifier is received in association with a second network identifier.
• a second network identifier corresponds to a second network to which the device is connected.
• the second network can include a wireless (802.11) ("wifi") network, as is known to those of ordinary skill in the art,
• FIG. 4B depicts an exemplary scenario whereby user device
• a network 410B such as a wifi access point.
• a network ID such as an IP address ('98.765.43.21,' as shown in FIG. 4B)
• a time such as a specific time (' 1 1 :30 on 01/01/2012,' as shown in FIG.
• a timeframe e.g., a span of time, such as 09:00 - 17:00 or 9:00am - 5:00pm
• a timeframe can be associated with the device identifier and the network identifier, reflecting the time/timeframe during which the device was connected to the network, such as a time/timeframe other than that corresponding to network 41 OA.
• the referenced timeframe can be determined and/or generated based on one or more times that a device is connected to a particular network.
• a timeframe can be generated spanning such times at which the device was determined to be connected to the network (i.e., 9:00am-5 :00pm), as it can be reasonably concluded that the device was only in proximity to the network throughout the timeframe.
• the second network identifier is processed (325). In doing so, a second location can be determined.
• a second location can include/reflect a zip code, such as a zip code associated with the second network.
• the network ID of network 410B ('98.765.43.21 ') can be processed to determine a location, such as a zip code (e.g., zip code ' 10055') associated with network 410B, such as in a manner known to those of ordinary skill in the art.
• a location such as a zip code (e.g., zip code ' 10055') associated with network 410B, such as in a manner known to those of ordinary skill in the art.
• the device identifier is associated with the second location and the second time (330).
• the device identifier of device 108 can be associated with a second location (zip code ' 10055,' as determined at 325) and a time (' 11 :30 on 01/01/2012' and/or 09:00 - 17:00), such as in the manner shown in FIG. 2.
• the device identifier can be associated with a particular location (corresponding to the location of the network 410B to which the device was connected) and a particular time (corresponding to the time/timeframe during which the device was connected network 410B, and thus can be determined to be located at the second location, e.g., zip code 10055).
• a content request is received from the device (335). It should be understood that, in certain implementations, such a content request can be received when the device is connected to a network that is not the first network and/or is neither the first network nor the second network.
• a network can include a cellular/mobile network (e.g., CDMA, GSM, etc.), as is known to those of ordinary skill in the art.
• the referenced content request can include a request for a third party content item, such as an advertisement.
• the referenced content items can include third party content items, such as advertisements, that are directed towards the first location.
• FIG. 4C depicts an exemplary scenario whereby user device 108 (such as the user device depicted in FIGS. 4A and 4B) is connected to a third network 4 IOC, such as a cellular network.
• a third network 4 IOC such as a cellular network.
• the network ID of network 410C corresponds to a carrier gateway of a cellular network to which device 108 is connected.
• the location associated with the network ID of network 410C bears little or no relation to the actual geographical location of device 108.
• a content request from can be associated with the location of a network to which the device was previously connected (such as network 410A or 410B).
• the location i.e., the location determined based on a network ID of a previously connected network
• the location can be determined based on the correspondence between the time of the content request (e.g., 10:00 on 01/03/2012, as shown in FIG. 4C) and the time associated with the respective location(s), as described herein.
• a particular network e.g., network 41 OA or 410B
• a determination can be made that the device has been connected to the network based upon which such location was determined within a defined chronological proximity (e.g., two days, one week, etc.) of receiving the content request. If it cannot be determined that the device was connected to the network (based upon which the location was determined) within a defined chronological proximity of receiving the content request, it cannot be reasonably extrapolated that the device is located at the particular location.
• a defined chronological proximity e.g., two days, one week, etc.
• a device having determined that a device was not connected to one or more networks (such as a network at which a device is most often connected to and can thus be determined to be a 'home' network), and/or that the device was not connected to one or more networks that can be determined to be within a defined geographical proximity (e.g., a 25 mile radius) of such networks, within a defined chronological proximity of receiving a content request, it can be further determined that the device is away from its regular/usual location(s), and thus can be determined to be 'traveling.'
• One or more content items are selected based on at least the first location (345). In certain implementations, such a selection can be performed based on a determination that the device has been connected to the first network within the defined chronological proximity of receiving the content request. It should be noted that, in certain implementations, the referenced content items are content items that are configured for presentation in relation to the first location. For example, as noted above, the referenced content items can include third party content item, such as advertisements.
• one or more content items can be selected based on a determination that (a) the device has been connected to the first network within the defined chronological proximity of receiving the content request, (b) the device has been connected to the second network within the defined chronological proximity of receiving the content request, and/or (c) the content request was received at a time that corresponds to at least one of the first time and the second time.
• the referenced content items can be selected in relation to a correspondence between the time and at least one of the first time and the second time.
• Such content items can be selected based on the first location and/or the second location, as determined based on the correspondence between the time (that is, the time that the device identifier is received, such as at 305) and the first time and/or the second time.
• a content item can be selected based on a correspondence between the time of the content request (i.e., 10:00) and the first time (i.e., the time during which the device was determined to be connected to network 41 OA, and thus associated with zip code 10001) or the second time (i.e., the time during which the device was determined to be connected to network 410B, and thus associated with zip code 10055).
• network 410A corresponds to a time (that is, a timeframe) of 18:00 - 08:00 (i.e., 6:00pm - 8:00am)
• network 410B corresponds to a time (that is, a timeframe) of 09:00 - 17:00 (i.e., 9:00am - 5:00pm)
• a content request occurring at 10:00 corresponds to the time associated with network 410B, which, in turn, is associated with zip code 10055, as noted above.
• a content item directed towards the location of network 410B (i.e., zip code 10055) can be selected, despite the fact that the content request originated from a carrier network, such as network 410C, which cannot be reliably relied upon to determine a location of a connected device, as described herein.
• the one or more content items can be selected based on a determination that a device was not connected to one or more networks (e.g., a 'home' network), and/or that the device was not connected to one or more networks determined to be within a defined geographical proximity (e.g., a 25 mile radius) of such networks, thus indicating that the device is traveling, such as determined in the manner described at 340. It can be appreciated that it can be advantageous for certain content providers, such as advertisers providing products or services that are appropriate for travelers, to provide content items, such as advertisements, that are directed towards such devices that can be ⁇ determined to be traveling.
• content items that are directed towards such devices can be selected.
• the one or more content items are provided to the device (350). For example, as shown in FIG. 5, having determined, such as at 345, that a content request occurring at 10:00 corresponds to the time associated with network 410B, which, in turn, is associated with zip code 10055, and selecting a content item (ad 210B) accordingly, the selected content item (ad 210B) can be provided to the device, despite the fact that the location of the device cannot be determined based on the network ID of network 4 IOC to which the device is presently connected.
• the device identifier can be disassociated from the first location (355). In certain implementations, the device identifier can be disassociated from the first location based, on a determination that the device has not been connected to a network within a defined geographical proximity to the first network within a specified timeframe. That is, it can be appreciated that, as described at 340, an extrapolation that a device that was previously determined to be present at a particular location (by way of the network ID of the network to which the device was connected) becomes increasingly unreliable as the device remains unconnected to such a network for an extended period of time (reflecting that the device is less likely to be present regularly in such a geographical location).
• an association between a device identifier and a location can be disassociated if the device has not been determined to be connected to the same network, and/or a network within a defined geographical proximity (e.g. one mile, five miles, etc.) within a specified timeframe. It can be appreciated that, in doing so, only those locations mat are reasonably likely to be current locations of the user device (by way of the user connecting to the corresponding networks within a reasonably close chronological proximity) can be used to determine a current location of the user, as described herein.
• a specified timeframe e.g., five days, one week, etc.
• Embodiments of the subject matter and the operations described in this specification can be implemented in digital electronic circuitry, or in computer software, firmware, or hardware, including the structures disclosed in this specification and their structural equivalents, or in combinations of one or more of them.
• Embodiments of the subject matter described in this specification can be implemented as one or more computer programs, i.e., one or more modules of computer program instructions, encoded on computer storage medium for execution by, or to control the operation of, data processing apparatus.
• the program instructions can be encoded on an artificially- generated propagated signal, e.g., a machine-generated electrical, optical, or electromagnetic signal that is generated to encode information for transmission to suitable receiver apparatus for execution by a data processing apparatus.
• a computer storage medium can be, or be included in, a computer-readable storage device, a computer-readable storage substrate, a random or serial access memory array or device, or a combination of one or more of them. Moreover, while a computer storage medium is not a propagated signal, a computer storage medium can be a source or destination of computer program instructions encoded in an artificially- generated propagated signal. The computer storage medium can also be, or be included in, one or more separate physical components or media (e.g., multiple CDs, disks, or other storage devices).
• FIG. 6 shows an example of a computing device 600 and a mobile computing device that can be used to implement the techniques described herein the present specification.
• the computing device 600 is intended to represent various forms of digital computers, such as laptops, desktops, workstations, personal digital assistants, servers, blade servers, mainframes, and other appropriate computers.
• the mobile computing device is intended to represent various forms of mobile devices, such as personal digital assistants, cellular telephones, smart-phones, and other similar computing devices.
• the components shown here, their connections and relationships, and their functions, are meant to be exemplary only, and are not meant to limit implementations of the inventions described and/or claimed in this document.
• the computing device 600 includes a processor 602, a memory 604, a storage device
• processor 602 can process instructions for execution within the computing device 600, including instructions stored in the memory 604 or on the storage device 606 to display graphical information for a GUI on an external input/output device, such as a display 616 coupled to the high-speed interface 608.
• multiple processors and/or multiple buses can be used, as appropriate, along with multiple memories and types of memory.
• multiple computing devices can be connected, with each device providing portions of the necessary operations (e.g., as a server bank, a group of blade servers, or a multi-processor system).
• the memory 604 stores information within the computing device 600.
• the memory 604 is a volatile memory unit or units.
• the memory 604 is a non-volatile memory unit or units.
• the memory 604 can also be another form of computer-readable medium, such as a magnetic or optical disk.
• the storage device 606 is capable of providing mass storage for the computing device
• the storage device 606 can be or contain a computer-readable medium, e.g., a computer-readable storage medium such as a floppy disk device, a hard disk device, an optical disk device, or a tape device, a flash memory or other similar solid state memory device, or an array of devices, including devices in a storage area network or other configurations.
• a computer program product can also be tangibly embodied in an information carrier.
• the computer program product can also contain instructions that, when executed, perform one or more methods, such as those described above.
• the computer program product can also be tangibly embodied in a computer- or machine-readable medium, such as the memory 604, the storage device 606, or memory on the processor 602.
• the high-speed interface 608 manages bandwidth-intensive operations for the computing device 600, while the low-speed interface 612 manages lower bandwidth- intensive operations. Such allocation of functions is exemplary only.
• the high-speed interface 608 is coupled to the memory 604, the display 616 (e.g., through a graphics processor or accelerator), and to the high-speed expansion ports 610, which can accept various expansion cards (not shown).
• the low-speed interface 612 is coupled to the storage device 606 and the low-speed expansion port 614.
• the low-speed expansion port 614 which can include various communication ports (e.g., USB, Bluetooth, Ethernet, wireless Ethernet) can be coupled to one or more input/output devices, such as a keyboard, a pointing device, a scanner, or a networking device such as a switch or router, e.g., through a network adapter.
• input/output devices such as a keyboard, a pointing device, a scanner, or a networking device such as a switch or router, e.g., through a network adapter.
• the computing device 600 can be implemented in a number of different forms, as shown in the figure. For example, it can be implemented as a standard server 620, or multiple times in a group of such servers. In addition, it can be implemented in a personal computer such as a laptop computer 622. It can also be implemented as part of a rack server system 624. Alternatively, components from the computing device 600 can be combined with other components in a mobile device (not shown), such as a mobile computing device 650. Each of such devices can contain one or more of the computing device 600 and the mobile computing device 650, and an entire system can be made up of multiple computing devices communicating with each other.
• the mobile computing device 650 includes a processor 652, a memory 664, an input/output device such as a display 654, a communication interface 666, and a transceiver 668, among other components.
• the mobile computing device 650 can also be provided with a storage device, such as a micro-drive or other device, to provide additional storage.
• a storage device such as a micro-drive or other device, to provide additional storage.
• Each of the processor 652, the memory 664, the display 654, the communication interface 666, and the transceiver 668, are interconnected using various buses, and several of the components can be mounted on a common motherboard or in other manners as appropriate.
• the processor 652 can execute instructions within the mobile computing device 650, including instructions stored in the memory 664.
• the processor 652 can be implemented as a chipset of chips that include separate and multiple analog and digital processors.
• the processor 652 can provide, for example, for coordination of the other components of the mobile computing device 650, such as control of user interface
• the processor 652 can communicate with a user through a control interface 658 and a display interface 656 coupled to the display 654.
• the display 654 can be, for example, a TFT (Thin-Film-Transistor Liquid Crystal Display) display or an OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diode) display, or other appropriate display technology.
• the display interface 656 can comprise appropriate circuitry for driving the display 654 to present graphical and other information to a user.
• the control interface 658 can receive commands from a user and convert them for submission to the processor 652.
• an external interface 662 can provide communication with the processor 652, so as to enable near area communication of the mobile computing device 650 with other devices.
• the external interface 662 can provide, for example, for wired communication in some implementations, or for wireless communication in other implementations, and multiple interfaces can also be used.
• the memory 664 stores information within the mobile computing device 650.
• the memory 664 can be implemented as one or more of a computer-readable medium or media, a volatile memory unit or units, or a non-volatile memory unit or units.
• An expansion memory 674 can also be provided and connected to the mobile computing device 650 through an expansion interface 672, which can include, for example, a SIMM (Single In Line Memory Module) card interface.
• SIMM Single In Line Memory Module
• the expansion memory 674 can provide extra storage space for the mobile computing device 650, or can also store applications or other information for the mobile computing device 650.
• the expansion memory 674 can include instructions to carry out or supplement the processes described above, and can include secure information also.
• the expansion memory 674 can be provide as a security module for the mobile computing device 650, and can be programmed with instructions that permit secure use of the mobile computing device 650.
• secure applications can be provided via the SIMM cards, along with additional information, such as placing identifying information on the SIMM card in a non-hackable manner.
• the memory can include, for example, flash memory and/or NVRAM memory (nonvolatile random access memory), as discussed below.
• NVRAM memory nonvolatile random access memory
• a computer program product is tangibly embodied in an information carrier. The computer program product contains instructions that, when executed, perform one or more methods, such as those described above.
• the computer program product can be a computer- or machine- readable medium, such as the memory 664, the expansion memory 674, or memory on the processor 652.
• the computer program product can be received in a propagated signal, for example, over the transceiver 668 or the external interface 662.
• the mobile computing device 650 can communicate wirelessly through the communication interface 666, which can include digital signal processing circuitry where necessary.
• the communication interface 666 can provide for communications under various modes or protocols, such as GSM voice calls (Global System for Mobile communications), SMS (Short Message Service), EMS (Enhanced Messaging Service), or MMS messaging (Multimedia Messaging Service), CDMA (code division multiple access), TDMA (time division multiple access), PDC (Personal Digital Cellular), WCDMA (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access), CDMA2000, or GPRS (General Packet Radio Service), among others.
• GSM voice calls Global System for Mobile communications
• SMS Short Message Service
• EMS Enhanced Messaging Service
• MMS messaging Multimedia Messaging Service
• CDMA code division multiple access
• TDMA time division multiple access
• PDC Personal Digital Cellular
• WCDMA Wideband Code Division Multiple Access
• CDMA2000 Code Division Multiple Access
• GPRS General Packet Radio Service
• a GPS (Global Positioning System) receiver module 670 can provide additional navigation- and location- related wireless data to the mobile computing device 650, which can be used as appropriate by applications running on the mobile computing device 650.
• the mobile computing device 650 can also communicate audibly using an audio codec 660, which can receive spoken information from a user and convert it to usable digital information.
• the audio codec 660 can likewise generate audible sound for a user, such as through a speaker, e.g., in a handset of the mobile computing device 650.
• Such sound can include sound from voice telephone calls, can include recorded sound (e.g., voice messages, music files, etc.) and can also include sound generated by applications operating on the mobile computing device 650.
• the mobile computing device 650 can be implemented in a number of different forms, as shown in the figure. For example, it can be implemented as a cellular telephone 680. it can also be implemented as part of a smart-phone 682, personal digital assistant, or other similar mobile device.
• implementations of the systems and techniques described here can be realized in digital electronic circuitry, integrated circuitry, specially designed ASICs (application specific integrated circuits), computer hardware, firmware, software, and/or combinations thereof.
• ASICs application specific integrated circuits
• These various implementations can include implementation in one or more computer programs that are executable and/or interpretable on a programmable system including at least one programmable processor, which can be special or general purpose, coupled to receive data and instructions from, and to transmit data and instructions to, a storage system, at least one input device, and at least one output device.
• These computer programs also known as programs, software, software applications or code
• include machine instructions for a programmable processor and can be implemented in a high-level procedural and/or object-oriented programming language, and/or in assembly/machine language.
• machine-readable storage medium and computer-readable storage medium refer to any computer program product, apparatus and/or device (e.g., magnetic discs, optical disks, memory, Programmable Logic Devices (PLDs)) used to provide machine instructions and/or data to a programmable processor, including a machine-readable storage medium that receives machine instructions as a machine-readable signal.
• machine-readable signal refers to any signal used to provide machine instructions and/or data to a programmable processor.
• a machine-readable storage medium does not include a machine-readable signal.
• the systems and techniques described here can be implemented on a computer having a display device (e.g., a CRT (cathode ray tube) or LCD (liquid crystal display) monitor) for displaying information to the user and a keyboard and a pointing device (e.g., a mouse or a trackball) by which the user can provide input to the computer.
• a display device e.g., a CRT (cathode ray tube) or LCD (liquid crystal display) monitor
• a keyboard and a pointing device e.g., a mouse or a trackball
• Other kinds of devices can be used to provide for interaction with a user as well; for example, feedback provided to the user can be any form of sensory feedback (e.g., visual feedback, auditory feedback, or tactile feedback); and input from the user can be received in any form, including acoustic, speech, or tactile input.
• the systems and techniques described here can be implemented in a computing system that includes a back end component (e.g., as a data server), or that includes a middleware component (e.g., an application server), or that includes a front end component (e.g., a client computer having a graphical user interface or a Web browser through which a user can interact with an implementation of the systems and techniques described here), or any combination of such back end, middleware, or front end components.
• the components of the system can be interconnected by any form or medium of digital data communication (e.g., a communication network). Examples of communication networks include a local area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN), and the Internet.
• LAN local area network
• WAN wide area network
• the Internet the global information network
• the computing system can include clients and servers.
• a client and server are generally remote from each other and typically interact through a communication network.
• the relationship of client and server arises by virtue of computer programs running on the respective computers and having a client-server relationship to each other. While this specification contains many specific implementation details, these should not be construed as limitations on the scope of any implementation or of what may be claimed, but rather as descriptions of features that may be specific to particular embodiments of particular implementations. Certain features that are described in this specification in the context of separate embodiments can also be implemented in combination in a single embodiment. Conversely, various features that are described in the context of a single embodiment can also be implemented in multiple embodiments separately or in any suitable subcombination.

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